Scripture
11The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. 12I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.” 13“But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! 14And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.” 15But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. 16And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.” Acts 9:11-16
Observation
The very next verse tells us that Ananias went out to find the murderer Saul and he greeted him with “Brother”. He had no idea if these would be the last words he would utter. Notice, God doesn’t even address his very valid concerns for his own safety. God doesn’t say, “If you go I will protect and no harm shall befall you for my legion of angels will be there with flaming swords to guard you.” That would have been nice. Nope. No guarantees of personal safety. The direction was given and the obedience was given. It’s interesting how much we base our obedience to God’s leading on whether or not it’s personally advantageous, convenient, or beneficial. When we put conditions on our obedience, that’s not obedience, that’s agreement. We think we are living in obedience, but really we’re just living in agreement with something God has asked us to do that we want to do anyway. Love your wife and kids. Done. Work hard and you will be blessed. Done. Go to Straight Street and minister to someone who may want to kill you. Wait… What? Just the chapter before we read of Phillip in the middle of a full-on revival in Samaria and God completely interrupts this amazing ministry momentum, “As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (Acts 8:26). This is Philip’s Straight Street. Some road in the middle of nowhere moving in the opposite direction of a thrilling move of God. Notice God does not tell Phillip about the divine appointment he’s about to have. God doesn’t give Phillip any details at all about the royal treasurer from Ethiopia he will meet reading Scripture and then lead to Jesus who will then, according to historians, will return to Ethiopia and start the first Christian church opening up an entire country to the gospel. The direction was given and the obedience was given. Phillip had every logical reason to stay where he was at and yet he obeyed without delay. Why? Details were secondary. Jesus was primary.
Application
Where’s your Straight Street? Where’s your desert road to Gaza? What if our interruptions are invitations to participate with The Divine plan of God? What if the voice we are ignoring is the Lord’s leading that we keep saying we are praying for? What if we aren’t actually living in obedience to God, but rather agreement with Him? What if our plans, in His Name, have taken primacy over His plans for His Name? What if the Christian life is supposed to be uncomfortable, and awkward, and full of dangerous points of obedience that wreck our plans and lead us to out-of-the-way places? What if following Jesus was never meant to fit in a nice, neat religious box that is only accessed for an hour and a half on a Sunday? I was picking my boys up from the beach yesterday. This is usually a long process of coaxing them back on to shore while they insist on “one more wave”. While I waited for my boys to obey the Lord was waiting for me to obey. There was a homeless man in front of me who was saying the “F word” every other word and was clearly mad at the world as he loaded his cart behind his bike with his stuff. He tried to ask a man for a smoke who was walking by and completely ignored him and received a flurry of F’s in response. The whole time I was there I felt like I was supposed to talk to him, but I ignored it. God doesn’t nag. He interrupts. He directs. He waits for us to obey. He will never force us to do so. I hate to say it, but as the boys brought there boys to the truck I was about to walk right by him when I looked up and at him. He was seen. He saw me seeing him. He said, “It’s hard isn’t it? This life isn’t easy.” I stopped and had a surprisingly lucid conversation about government conspiracies, mistreatment of the homeless and God. Yes, I talked about how “Jesus had no place to lay His head” according to scripture and how He knew exactly what Mark was going through. Yes, his name was Mark. He had a name and a soul that Jesus wanted to minister to in the middle of his anger. We brought him some chips, trail mix and water we had in the truck. Then, my boys and I laid hands on him and prayed for him. This was my Straight Street and I almost walked right by it.
Prayer
Lord, forgive for me the arrogance in assuming I know what the plan is for the day. You are a multitasking God who is orchestrating a million different divine appointments and I don’t even want to know how many of them I have completely blown off. I pray that Mark would be able to find housing and a job and that He would know Your love in a fresh way today. I pray that I would submit today’s plans to you and not ignore the leading of your still, small voice speaking to my Spirit. Following You was never about my comfort, but rather about being as close to You as I can be. That means being willing to see interruptions as invitations and distractions as direction from You. Open my eyes to see that You are at work all around me.
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